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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Someone actually read the Safe Access Act

Newland note: DDC (who posts here from time to time) laid some things out nicely for the folks over at War College, who largely are unimpressed with facts. Nice job, DDC. Thanks.

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I’ve smoked MJ exactly three times in my life, the last (and first) time was almost nine years ago shortly after I got out of the Navy. I don’t know anyone personally that I know for sure would benefit from IM 13. I am 100% in favor of it. I’m not some lefty druggie. I’ve always been a staunch conservative, until recently. Now I’m very much libertarian with conservative sympathies.

I am also in favor of complete legalization, but that’s really not the discussion at hand.

I’ll try and address your concerns from my position, someone that will have no direct benefit if IM 13 passes.

1)There really isn’t any need for strict regulations for MJ. It’s a plant. It’s potency may vary but there isn’t any real danger of getting a bad product, especially since the person growing it is either the patient themselves or a person that they know and designate to grow it for them.

2)IM 13 has strict possession limits. It allows a person to possess no more than 1oz of “usable MJ” at any time. It also limits them to no more than 6 MJ plants. (Secs 12 & 13)

It also includes a penalty to any cardholder that sells MJ to an unauthorized person. The penalty is in addition to existing state law and provides for up to two years in prison, a fine of up to $2,000, or both. (Sec 27)

3)This is where it get admittedly tricky. It’s really not the fault of IM 13 though, it’s the ADA. We’ve got to remember that we’re talking about people with some pretty serious medical conditions, though. These people almost surely be on some other drug(s) with side effects much worse than what they would have with MJ. You’ve got to remember that these people aren’t necessarily going to be stoned all day long. A small amount may be enough to get them through the day, or they may not need use any at all during the work day. Taking Oxycontin or Vicodin would be just as bad or worse. This of course assumes that they are even healthy enough to be working, which many of the patients that could benefit from MJ aren’t.

The authors of the law did attempt to mitigate many of these concerns in Sections 22 & 24, but as long as there is an ADA, there is going to be potential problems associated with employing anyone that has any medical conditions.

4)My thoughts on this are that if it helps someone, what does it matter what any studies say? If a doctor thinks it may help someone and the patient would like to try it, who am I to tell them no? There isn’t any medical procedure, device or drug that works 100% of the time or are 100% safe. MJ is about as safe as it gets where drugs are concerned.

I really feel that the most important thing that we need to remember is that IM 13 will benefit some very sick people. That is who it is written for. Yeah, there are some potheads that see it as a stepping stone to full legalization but that isn’t even close to what the law allows for.

Yes, there will be some abuse of the law. Yes, there will be some caregivers that abuse their status. People use guns and knives to murder people, but that doesn’t mean we should ban all guns and knives.

I highly encourage you to visit the SD Compassion website. Have a look at some of the patients that will benefit from if IM 13 passes. Read about the legal nightmare that Matthew Duchenaux went through. That shouldn’t happen in America.

Bob thanks for reprinting DDCs post at the War College. And DDC thanks for the time and truthfulness of your post. It sure seems like the proponents of IM13 are going to have more trouble with misinformation then anything else in this election. I am sure this has been talked about before and I just missed it but how about a mass mailing of a brochure with the SAA so people can be reminded what it actually says. Many of the questions being asked now can be answered and addressed by reading the SAA. I know many middle age people that might just throw it away but grandma and grampa read everything and that might be the difference in the election. Lets face it those that don’t have any pain will think less of IM13 then those that do and the older you get the more pain you are going to have for more reasons.Also in the last few weeks we have before election why don’t we use the newspapers to print a myth and a fact about cannabis every couple of days and give the studies and clinical work to support those facts. Misinformation is worse then a lie when it is used by someone that has some authority. Those people have to be exposed for that misinformation. Thanks to Emmett Reistroffer for the willingness to take on the establishment to get the facts in front of the publics eye. Art Mabry has to be made to answer for some serious allegations as does our Attorney General. Nuff SaidThe Blindman

Larry Kurtz I don’t know if this will happen or not but I suspect that the very first legal challenge will come from Art Mabry and the association that he heads. That challenge will more then likely be that they don’t want to go against federal law. It has been tried several times in other states with little success.

Larry I don’t know what that would cost but facts with supporting documentation always does more good then lies with none. I sure wish I lived closer to Rapid but at a hundred and some miles I don’t get much of a chance to visit with other people about this. Don’t get me wrong my closest town is thirty miles and I wouldn’t change that for anything.

Thanks for re-posting this. After i submitted it over at DWC I saw that it was almost on the second page already and figured no one was even going to see it. It's impossible to have a decent discussion of anything there (or on a lot of other blogs) with the sheer number of new blog posts that get put up on a daily basis.

I just get so sick of the refusal to even acknowledge facts and the misinformation that gets put out on all sides of issues.

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Bob Newland posts topics to this forum. The Forum is based in Rapid City, So. Dak., so local references are almost always in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

A Creed

Politics was defined in an essay by the incomparable Lewis Lapham, at the time managing editor of Harper's magazine. He said, Politics is the continuous argument over who gets to do what to whom, for how long, and against what degree of dissent. It has yet to be said better.